Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Weird combination, huh?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I say that because that was me.  I got Theo when I was 26 and just beginning to again acknowledge God in my life.  Theo has been there through some of the biggest parts of my life: my return to God, my marriage to Dana, our call to the mission field, the birth of Asher, our move to Mbeya, and the beginning of vernacular media in the language project here.

Yesterday, after 11 hours on the road with 4 more to go, I called the office to ask about a small problem I was having with my cell phone.  Our project team leader and neighbor took the opportunity to talk to me on the phone.  “Jonathan, I wanted to catch you before you arrived back home.  I have a bit of sad news,” he said in his British accent.  He went on to describe how Theo and Teddy had escaped through a gap in the fence of our backyard while we were gone.  Theo, being inquisitive and friendly found the pack of compound guard dogs and went to greet them.  There was a fight and Theo was hurt badly.  The Belgian paramedic in House 1 here on the compound tended to his wounds and was hopeful he would survive.  Kay, our landlord, took Theo and Teddy into her house to stay for the night and was awakened to Teddy’s bark around 5am.  She went to check on them and discovered that my little 7-pound furry white friend had died in his sleep.

They buried him that day down below our house in a nice little grave covered with small gravel.  We visited it this morning accompanied by heavy hearts and tear-streaked cheeks.

It has amazed me how a small animal has brought me to my knees.  I have cried extremely hard because Theo will be missed very, very much.  He was a once in a lifetime dog to me and his shadow is around every corner in the house.  It will take a while to adjust to not having him around but we look and hope to see how God is going to give us strength and how He will use this to bring us closer to Him.

In the eternal perspective of things, Theo was just a dog.  An animal.  A pet.  He had no eternal destination unlike the people I’m here to love and serve.  Losing Theo made me realize that I value my pet dog, my luxury, at points in my life my idol (bad thing), more than I value the people here who are so different from me.  This is a struggle. A big one.